Animal welfare activists on Friday pressured the Los Angeles City Council to make changes to the Department of Animal Services, saying its shelter network faces “deplorable” conditions and a overcrowding crisis.
Activists called for stricter enforcement of the city's mandatory spay and neuter policy, a moratorium on breeding permits and greater transparency from Animal Services.
Local groups, including take me home rescueWomen United for Animal Welfare and Animal rescue mission, said Animal Services is more concerned about its reputation than the condition of the animals in its care. Dogs and cats live in feces and go months without walking, they said.
Rescue groups also claimed that city shelters are killing animals for space and lying about it in an attempt to achieve “no-kill” status.
City officials have acknowledged an overcrowding crisis they say has lasted nearly two decades, but maintain they are not killing for space. Angelenos are abandoning large dogs in alarming numbers, the Department of Animal Services said, and very few are adopting or fostering them.
“It is crucial to emphasize that LAAS does not and will not consider the idea of euthanizing healthy, safe, and friendly animals, and any rumors to the contrary are completely false,” the Department of Animal Services said in a statement. “Certain rescue organizations, who are not actively involved in our shelters, continue to distort and fabricate a false narrative about the department.”
LAAS volunteer coordinator Jake Miller sent an email to volunteers this month announcing the pending euthanasia of up to 800 animals within four weeks if they were not adopted.
Later that day, LAAS general manager Staycee Dains sent an email stating that Miller's message was “simply not true” and was distributed inappropriately.
Shira Scott Astrof, founder of Animal Rescue Mission, said Dains is not qualified for her position.
“It's been almost a year and our shelters are worse than ever,” Astrof said. “When she makes mistakes, dogs die.”
Councilwoman Eunisses Hernández, chair of the Neighborhood and Community Enrichment Committee, which oversees LAAS, said it was unfair to blame Dains for the crisis at Los Angeles shelters.
“This department has been chronically understaffed and underfunded for years,” Hernandez said in an interview. “This general manager did not cause these problems. “It didn’t happen overnight.”
The City Council passed a motion Friday to add nearly $3 million in funding to LAAS for care workers and administrative positions. Astrof said this action would not significantly alleviate the crisis in shelters unless the city begins enforcing its spay and neuter policy.
While Astrof and his colleagues criticized Dains, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals distributed posters throughout the city blaming Mayor Karen Bass for the crisis.
Bass's office emphasized recent progress, saying the number of shelter volunteers has doubled while overcrowding has been cut in half.
“The state of Los Angeles Animal Services was devastating when the mayor was sworn in,” his office said in a statement.
Animal Services echoed this message, saying in a statement that “there is obviously much more work to do, but progress has been made and animal lives have been saved.”
Scott and other rescuers said conditions have deteriorated, not improved, under Bass and Dains.
“There's no way out of this right now,” Scott said. “Many animals are going to die.”
